Month: November 2013

As a Kent Press Photographer, this time of year always full of images with Santa in. Which is fine but in November?

Last weekend alone I filed about twenty plus pictures of different Santas! from the weird to the wonderful!

Santa flies KLM its official I have seen it at Manston Airport!

All the Bah Humbug aside now. It really is a busy time of year. Which has seen me traveling far and wide. This year I’m determined to make some different images not just the run of the mill ones you see all the time, well that’s the plan. We shall see!

I got to cover the grand Christmas lights turn on in Dover this year by the cast of the Panto at the Marlowe Theater in Canterbury. Samantha Womack better known for playing Ronnie in Eastenders. Is one of the main celeb pulls. I personally remember and prefer her from Game On!

Phil Gallagher. better known as C Beebies ‘Mr Maker’ as well. I had shot him before a couple of days earlier. So I had already met him. A really nice guy who has the misfortune to support the Gills!

I have also been thrown some tough jobs lately not least shooting in dimly lit churches with varying results. Given more time the sceanareo screams for an Off Camera Flash setup, but when your rushing from job to job that’s just not possible.

With my Rubber Duck Does Automotive hat on. I have started shooting for the American car magazine European Car. My first job was shooting a feature of the simply awesome Ford Focus RS 500 ‘Optimus’ that belongs to the guys at RS Direct down in Bristol.

Unfortunately until they are published this is all I can let you see for now. Needless to say awesome car (I’m a real sucker for RS’s!) in an exceptionally cool location. Makes for some really great images and will deserve its own post in the future!

I’d also had the pleasure of getting some really great customer service this week. Which I’d just like to take a minute to tell you about. My external flash battery pack suddenly decided that it was no longer going to charge, not really the end of the world but I use mine on a daily basis as its quicker to charge than a load of AA Batteries! I duly contacted John at UK Photo Distro about it. I had only bought it back in the summer but I hadn’t spent a fortune on it so I wasn’t expecting much. However within about 5 minutes of sending the email he called me to reassure me that he was sending out a replacement. So I urge you to go and take a look at their website if your looking for any kind of accessory.

So I thought it would be a good idea to design and publish a book that covered this years British Rallycross championship. After a few conversations with motorsport journalist extraordinaire, and good mate, Hal Ridge. He finally succumbed to my nagging and conceded to do the words for the book.

Right from when I had conceived the idea I had wanted to include an image of every regular driver in every class, which basically resulted in over 90 pages of images and a few hundred images for Hal to caption and write about!

We also wanted the book to be of a decent quality that people, divers and rallycross fans would want to keep. I hate to use the term but a coffee table book! So we decided that a 10×8 hardback book with a wrap was the way forward. For this we decided to use the well known website Blurb for the fulfillment.

We would welcome any comments that people have and also would like to hear any suggestions that you may have that would make it better. We are thinking about doing a give away so let us know what you think.

Matt Bristow Wedding Photography. No your not seeing things I shot a wedding, well sort of!

Firstly let me clear a couple of things up! I haven’t taken leave of my senses.

I’m not starting to ‘do’ weddings.

Motorsport and sport in general are what I do and will continue to do so.

I was invited to the wedding in any case!

Here’s what happened. About a year ago I met up with a good mate Neil. Whom hadn’t seen for a while and over the first pint he calmly announces that he was getting hitched. So I felt it my solemn duty to celebrate with him. However after quite a few more celebratory ‘sherries’ the conversation went a bit like this:

Neil: So Matt, we are doing this on a budget can you bring your camera and take a few snaps

Me: erm OK, but you do know I mostly shoot press and sport stuff?

Neil: yeah we only want you to do a few little bits

And that was that I was to shoot my first wedding! As it transpired all that they wanted me to do was to take a couple of nice portraits. Which suited me perfectly. I remember a conversation I had with with Kevin O’Connor of the London Photographic Association (terrible name drop there!) a few years ago about shooting a wedding by only doing portraits! well here was my chance to try just that.

So it was off to Kingscote Barn near Tetbury in the Cotswolds for the wedding and the beautiful and unpredictable British weather, of all the weekends in an unseasonably warm and dry October it decided it was going to rain!

I couldn’t resist the classic first dance silhouette shot. One camera, one light set up.

Here’s a quick selection of a few of the rest. Well I couldn’t resist taking a few extra ones during the day. I also made the decision to shoot all this lot in black and white as I hadn’t shot any B&W in a while and also the light temperature was very strange at the venue!

The attention to detail was just lovely – Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

I dont even think I took this one I think my 7 year old daughter did! – Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

The best man sung his speach! – Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

And shes holding a knife! – Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Neil and Ros Wedding, Kingscote Barn

Would I shoot a whole wedding if asked? possibly but it would have to be along the same lines as this one!

What not to like about working indoors at Londons O2 Arena covering the ATP World Finals 2013. Especially when the weather is truly dreadful outside.

So at the beginning of November I was covering the ATP World Finals at the O2. I have not covered top level tennis before so I was looking forward to it. First game was a Group B singles match between Argentinian Juan Martin Del Portro and Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

Barclays ATP World Finals- Juan Martin Del Portro serves

Barclays ATP World Finals- Richard Gasquet

Juan Martin Del Portro come out winner in three sets. The following day I had another Group B match this time between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. At this point I want to point out that the Swiss are fanatical supporters of tennis. Not surprising as they had two players at the ATP World Finals Stanislas Wawrinka and of course Roger Federer.

With the strong support of the crowd Roger Federer was the clear crowd favorite. Which lifted him to pull back the second set by winning a tie break.

Barclays ATP World Finals – Roger Federer focused and driven

Barclays ATP World Finals – Roger Federer in between games

However, it was the tanasity and sheer athleticism of Novak Djokovic that won the day. It was clear he was the man to beat and indeed he went on to win the final and lift the trophy.

Barclays ATP World Finals – Novak Djokovic makes a dramatic return

Barclays ATP World Finals – Novak Djokovic drops a shot just over the net.

Barclays ATP World Finals – Novak Djokovic victorious

My third match was the deciding match in Group A between Rafael Nadal and Stanislas Wawrinka. Where Rafael Nadal would win in just two sets but both were taken to a tie break.

The Vaccines Justin Young giving an all out performance.

Justin Young shot here on stage at Margate Winter Gardens way back in May of this year.

I have been lucky enough to cover them playing live twice now. The vigor and energy that they put into a show was surprising both times, and I think this shot of lead singer Justin Young demonstrates that. Although you might not think so, I’d be interested in hearing what you think.

Possibly a while before we see The Vaccines play live again as they have just announced that they are to take a break. I recently found out that Corbis has licensed this image for useage, for what they wont tell me! So if you see it used anywhere drop me a line as it would be nice to know!